


Flash Knockout

by okoriwadsworth



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:54:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23698840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okoriwadsworth/pseuds/okoriwadsworth
Summary: What would happen if Oliver Queen taught Barry Allen to fight?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Flash Knockout

Flash Knockout: What would happen if Oliver Queen helped Barry Allen learn how to fight?

(Author’s Note: This is a 1-off brought on by a plot bunny discussed in the Lauriver discord. PM RayWritesThings for a link to it, because things like this will come out of that wonderful discord. Also, there is a LOT of cursing here. Like, a LOT. As a result, there will be a M rating.

In this story, Oliver Queen still has Queen Consolidated, and is not an absentee CEO. Also, Rainbow Raider is not the villain of this story so he can actually do this calmly without worrying about Barry losing his shit.)

It was an accident, if Oliver Queen is being honest. He shouldn’t have really even been IN Central City, but responsibilities with a branch of Queen Consolidated brought him here. And then, because this always seems to happen, Oliver Queen watches as his best-laid plans go up in a wave of smoke.

As he was leaving town, Barry Allen, the Flash, asked for his help. And because Oliver Queen is a good friend, he did. Together they stopped Captain Cold and Heat Wave from robbing a collection of rare art from the Bourbon dynasty of the Spanish Empire.

But as they took them both down, Oliver Queen noticed something. And it horrified him.

Barry Allen couldn’t fight worth a single god-damn. I mean, sure, if you’re faster than the speed of sound, you didn’t need to be Central City’s answer to Sugar Ray Robinson.

But this? Not being able to land any punches with more oomph than a jab? This can’t be good either.

Over coffees at Jitters, Oliver brought it up.

“Barry, I’m happy you’re casing your environments now, taking the time to see if anyone’s going to try and sneak up on you. But, we have a bigger problem. I’m happy to help with it” said Oliver, looking very carefully to see if Barry can figure out what it is before he has to tell him.

“No, Ollie. What problem?” smiles Barry, clearly having ABSOLUTELY no idea what Oliver’s on about.

“Barry, you can’t fight. Like, at all. If any of my villains showed up here, you’d be dead. Absolutely dead. But if any of your villains show up in Starling City, I can handle them. You need to learn how to fight. I’ll teach you” said Oliver, admittedly looking forward to this.

“Ollie, I don’t need to fight. All I need to do is be fast” smiles Barry.

“For FUCK’s Sake, Barry. Think about this. What happens if Captain Cold freezes you? How would you defend yourself? You need to fight, Barry, and you need my help to learn how to do that” said Oliver, clearly stating the conversation is over.

So, because he likes the kid, Oliver Queen made a few phone calls and got a world-class boxing gym set up to see if he couldn’t figure out how to make Barry Allen a competent puncher.

Almost immediately, Oliver discovered a problem.

“For FUCK’s Sake, Barry” Oliver yelled despite his desire not to. “Who taught you how to wrap your hands? All you’re going to end up doing is busting your knuckles again and again.”

“You’re supposed to wrap your hands?” smiled Barry Allen, as though this was something that had never occurred to him.

“Barry, yes. Now follow me, and do exactly what I do” said Oliver, putting his head in his hands and apologizing fervently to God for whatever he had done in a past life.

Watching carefully, Barry sees how Oliver wraps his hands and then does it at super-speed, causing Oliver to put his head in his hands but nonetheless move them over to the heavy bag.

“Now. Barry, throw a punch. Throw it at normal speed” says Oliver, noticing Barry is in no way in proper punching form as he’s standing straight up like a doorman would at a fancy hotel.

Barry throws the punch and the heavy bag barely ripples, Barry having thrown the literal equivalent of a fingertip at the thing.

“Barry? We’re friends, right?” said Oliver, running his hands through his blonde hair in frustration at what he sees.

“Not you too, Ollie. Of all the people….” mutters Barry, before beginning to tear up.

“What are you talking about, Barry?” says Oliver, his annoyance at his friend’s horrible punching form now having burned off.

“Everyone keeps telling me to gain weight, to get bigger, to look more like a superhero. But I can’t. I have to consume 10,000 calories a day just to maintain this body, and eating more is exhausting. So I really hope you’re not also going to tell me to gain weight, too, because I can’t take it anymore” blurts out Barry.

“What’s about to happen, Barry, I never did. If you tell anyone I did it, I will put arrows in you. Not arrow. **ARROWS**. Are we clear?” says Oliver, a smile beginning to cross his face.

And with that reminder, Oliver Queen hugs Barry Allen and lets him fall apart on his shoulder because he knows that’s what his friend needs. But as he thinks about it, they’re not really friends. This wouldn’t be happening with Roy Harper. It would have with Tommy, though, and a cousin of it would have happened with Diggle.

It would happen, though, with people he calls brothers. And at that moment, Oliver realized that Barry Allen is his brother.

Letting go of the hug, Oliver glances down at his brother’s hands and knows how to help. Reaching into his pocket, Oliver makes a phone call.

“Cisco? It’s Oliver. We need your help”

______________________________________________________________________________

Walking back into the gym after Cisco’s finished, Barry smiles as the boxing gym is set up with every technological advancement Cisco Ramon could think of.

“This, Ollie, this works” smiled Barry.

“Good, Barry. Now throw a punch again. Let’s see what we can fix here” said Oliver.

“What about Star City, Ollie? Aren’t you worried about leaving it alone for so long?” said Barry, eager to be doing anything other than this.

“No Barry. John’s there, and so is Roy, and Felicity, and Laurel. Hell, I called in Nyssa to help. You’re not getting out of this” smiled Oliver, wanting to help his brother Barry Allen.

Throwing a punch, Barry Allen smiles sheepishly as Oliver Queen’s screams can be heard to Midway City.

“For FUCK’s Sake Barry! You’re faster than me and Cisco put together. Now try and focus on landing a punch. Let your legs and hips do the work. Your arm is just along for the ride. Punch like how you run” said Oliver, hoping that helps Barry get it.

And as it happened, that really did help. Suddenly, yellow lightning flashed behind Barry Allen’s eyes and he punched with speed and perfect form. And sure, the bag didn’t fly off of the hinges. But it rocked and swayed, and Oliver knew his friend was going to be able to do serious damage if he hit people.

No, Ollie said to himself, not his friend. His brother.


End file.
